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Dummy Reversal
Most commonly, in a trump contract, we accumulate extra tricks by getting a ruff or two in the short hand. However, we "reverse the dummy" when we go for extra tricks by ruffing in the long hand. For example, in a 5-3 fit we might be able to count 5 trump tricks plus a ruff in the short hand for a total of 6. Or, by "reversing the dummy", we might get to 6 by counting 3 ruffs in the long hand plus 3 trump tricks in the short hand. Those ruffs in the long hand must be taken early in the play, before drawing trumps.
Related Play Problems Play Problem 267
Related Extracts from Past Wednesday Games
How does 2♠ play? It’s down one if North finds the improbable Heart lead, but a Club lead seems more likely and now Declarer has a fighting chance! Here’s one way to scramble 8 tricks: Club lead won in Dummy Another Club is cashed, Declarer pitching a Heart Heart conceded to South’s Jack Club ruff Another Heart is conceded Another Club ruff Spade finesse, South winning her Ace Spade return, won in Dummy Heart ruff ♦A is cashed That’s seven tricks, and Dummy’s Spade winner is the 8th. There are many variations on this theme, the basic plan being to get three ruffs in Declarer’s hand (a Dummy reversal in other words). If the defense tries to thwart this plan by leading trumps then Declarer gets his 8th trick via the 13th Diamond.
It turns out that East’s decision to double 1♦ worked out badly. If he had balanced with 1♠, West would have been aware of the 8-card fit, and might well have competed to 3♠. That is a fine contract, scoring 9 or 10 tricks. It will be 9 tricks if South starts out with Hearts, but 10 tricks if she starts with a high Diamond, allowing East to execute this neat little Dummy reversal: A♦ ruffed by Declarer Spade finesse Diamond ruff Spade finesse Diamond ruff Cross to Dummy’s J♣ Draw the last trump Cash the Clubs That’s 10 tricks for Declarer, with the defense taking the last three.
Reaching 4♠ looks routine enough, and the question is “How many tricks can you make after an opening Club lead?” Assuming a 3-2 trump break, Declarer can count 4 natural trump tricks and 6 side-suit tricks. That’s 10 tricks and Declarer can get the total up to 11 by taking a Club ruff in Dummy. It won’t help to try for 12 by getting a second Club ruff, that will only promote a second trump trick for the defense. Does that mean that 11 tricks is the limit? Not at all! What is needed here is a Dummy Reversal. Instead of ruffing two Clubs in Dummy, Declarer will plan to ruff Diamonds in hand, setting up a long Diamond in the process. The play goes as follows: Opening Club lead won by the Ace Cash ♦A Cash the three Hearts Cross to the ♠A Diamond ruff Cross to the ♠K Diamond ruff Cross to the ♣K Now Declarer ruffs another Diamond. West can over-ruff this, in which case Dummy takes the last two tricks with the last trump and the long Diamond … or West declines to ruff (pitching a Club), in which case Dummy scores the Spade Four en passant by leading a Club. Either way, it’s a lovely 12 tricks!
West’s 2NT was Jordan, showing a 4-card raise with at least invitational values.
The final contract is quite poor indeed, and it’s possible that Declarer might be down a whopping 3 tricks if she misguesses Clubs, and down 2 otherwise. However, with careful play she can do a trick better than that. The extra trick can achieved by reversing the Dummy, as follows: K♦ lead ducked Diamond continuation won by the Ace Diamond ruff Heart to the King getting the bad news Club from the board, let’s say it is misguessed Club returned to North’s Ace Heart to the Ace, and the J♥ cashed Spade to Ace Club ruff This line gives Declarer 8 tricks even with the Club misguess. It may not seem like much of a triumph but it might well be worth almost average!
One route to 10 tricks is via a Dummy Reversal: Spade lead won by Declarer’s Ace Diamond won by South Heart shift won by Declarer’s Eight A♦ and ruff a Diamond A♣, K♣, and ruff a Club Cross to the K♠ Ruff another Club Declarer now has 9 tricks in the bag with the A♥ to come. Could North have messed things up by playing the Q♦ at Trick Two? No, Declarer wins this and plays a Diamond which South is forced to win, and the same 10 tricks materialize. It takes an opening lead of North’s singleton Heart to beat the contract.
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